July 2022 Prayer Letter Update

For a one page printable version of this prayer letter click here

Dear Friends,

For most of you, your summer is half over (sorry for that reminder!). It’s always summer here in Thailand and school schedules are different, so our sense of seasons is different. But still, time is flying by as usual. Thank you for your prayers for us to use the opportunities God gives us, and to look for opportunities as well.

A lot has happened since our last letter, and several things are coming up quickly. I’ll try to keep this letter reasonably brief – so we had better get to it!

Last time I mentioned an opportunity to teach the Old Testament history books for an online Bible School. I did go to Chiang Mai to record about 16 hours of teaching through Joshua, Judges and Ruth. Now that I have some experience with the format for recording, I should be able to do the teaching from home from here on out. But preparing, writing the notes, and recording classes for the nine history books that remain will be a continuous project for the foreseeable future.     

All masked up and ready to pass out church brochures on a Sunday afternoon

In the last letter I also asked you to pray that we could return to the weekly prison ministry that we had done for so many years until Covid struck. The prison finally got back to us and said that we could return in August. Praise the Lord for that answered prayer! Before, we had total freedom to teach the Bible, even though we officially entered as English teachers (which we did teach). It seems the people in charge at the prison now are new. Please pray that they will grant us such freedom again.

Here is a prayer request for something coming up right away: The ladies of the church are planning a three-day camp this coming weekend. The goal is for extended fellowship, teaching, and encouragement from the Word for the ladies of the church. But at least two non-Christians will be going too. One is the neighbor of our co-workers, the Beckmans, who has been bringing her granddaughter to church on Sundays, and often staying herself. The other is a teen girl who has been studying the Bible with Maam Beckman and attending our Sunday worship services. Please pray specifically for these two ladies.

In May quite a few people in our church got Covid, including most of our missionary team. Thankfully, all have recovered, but a few felt pretty bad for a week or more. That hurt church attendance, but the past few weeks have been much better. There have been some new people, including two young men with some background (which is still unclear to us) in churches. Three ladies who had attended some in the past but had been away for the past year have returned. There have often been some people who would not even claim to be Christians at our services too. As a result of all this the children’s ministry on Sunday mornings has grown.    

Finally, a big change is about to happen in our family. Elaine will be leaving us to go to Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa in just a few weeks. Next week we plan to go on a family vacation to the South of Thailand (to which we have never been) to enjoy the beauty of this country before she goes back. Please pray for her (and us!) in this transition.  

Your Partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah